Best of British - Comau Estil
Comau Estil has represented the UK advanced engineering sector at UK Trade & Investment events around the world.
In 1999, Fiat-owned Italian company Comau took over UK company Pico Estil to form Comau Estil. The company supplies cutting-edge solutions in systems integration, robotics and numerous areas of automation. Its customers are predominantly in the automotive and aerospace sectors.
Estil had been associated with global businesses for many years. As Comau, the company now has 38 bases around the world.
“As part of the Global Comau Group we are in an enviable and unique position to support manufacturers within the UK and Europe, providing a local gateway to a worldwide group of expertise,” says Martin Kinsella, Engineering Manager for Comau Estil UK. “We pride ourselves on selling to our customers’ needs, focusing on delivering efficiency and productivity and adding value to our customers’ businesses. We are able to provide our customers with localised support, with the benefits of global sourcing capabilities.”
Stragegic relationships
Over the years, Comau Estil has built strategic relationships with UK universities, including Nottingham, Warwick and Liverpool, working with them to bring new and innovative products to the market. In 2007, UK Trade & Investment approached Warwick University looking for a suitable advocate for advanced engineering and automation in the UK. The university suggested Comau Estil’s Martin Kinsella, and he was invited to join a UK Trade & Investment business visit to India.
“It was a real honour to be asked to take our experience and use it to show people overseas how much excellent work we have going on in the UK,” says Martin Kinsella. “As a company, Comau Estil recognises that it can only benefit from this association with UK Trade & Investment, which gives us excellent press around the world and lends us credibility in areas where we are not yet known. For us, the relatively small investment of my time has the potential to bring us great returns.”
India revisited
Since the first trip to India in 2007, Comau Estil has continued to work closely with UK Trade & Investment. In 2008, Martin Kinsella hosted an event in Halewood with the support of Jaguar LandRover. This formed part of a week-long visit organised by UK Trade & Investment as an industry briefing for approximately 30 British Ambassadors posted around the world. The focus of the event was to demonstrate the high technological status of the UK advanced engineering sector.
In May 2008, Comau Estil took part in the 2008 UK Advanced Engineering Showcase in India, where UK Trade & Investment presented to over 400 companies in Pune, Chennai and Bangalore.
“The event itself was just fantastic,”
says Martin Kinsella. “From the planning through to the brochures and leaflets that UK Trade & Investment had had printed,
every aspect was so professional,
which all helped to promote the UK brand. There is a misconception out there that the UK is not very innovative, but this simply isn’t true and these events help to put the record straight. We were able to show overseas companies exactly what we have to offer in the UK. In one of my presentations, I even showed a live laser-welding demonstration via webcam, which was really well-received. Throughout the programme, we could see that the Indian delegates were amazed at the engineering advancements that have been made in the UK.”
The success of the Showcase event led to a visit by Comau Estil to Mexico with Lord Digby Jones, as part of the UK Trade & Investment’s advanced engineering global brand awareness. The visit focused on various aspects of engineering, in particular aerospace and automotive. One of the highlights of the visit was a meeting with the President of the Mexican Automotive Industry.
